The violence in Boston this week is tragic and senseless, but it should also remind us of the violence we as a country allow to be perpetrated in our name around the world. Two pipe bomb explosions in our country are hailed as “horrific” while we excuse and condone our own military’s massacre of innocents on the other side of the world.

We all sat staring at our TV screens as our government rained bombs and terror on the innocent and helpless citizens of Bagdad. We even had the audacity to title this slaughter “Shock & Awe.” We say we will hunt down the perpetrators of this most recent violence, but who in our society has been brought to justice for the death and maiming of the children in the war we started to provide the multinational oil companies with the spoils of Iraq?

Our drones blow up homes and civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan where we “believe” there “might” be a threat to our security while we sit comfortably at home and worry about the standings of our sports teams.

We all need to stop being surprised, wringing our hands and ignoring our own culpability for the part we play in the escalation and acceptance of violence as a way of gaining notoriety or achieving anything.